MIDDLESEX – From the pants pulled up well above the calf to expose blue-and-white striped stirrups to the manner in which it uses small ball to manufacture early runs, there is something decidedly old school about the new-look Middlesex High School baseball team.

Despite graduating 12 seniors from a squad that won the state Group I title a year ago and the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament the previous season, the Blue Jays, ranked No. 7 in the Home News Tribune Top 10, have picked up where they left off.

Unlike teams of the past two seasons, whose potent lineup blasted 42 homers while steamrolling opponents, Middlesex has relied on solid pitching and defense en route to opening this year with a five-game winning streak.

The undefeated Blue Jays, however, finally combined all three facets of the game in Friday’s 9-2 victory over Bishop Ahr at Thomas P. Simchock Field.

“That’s a credit to their program and it all starts with the coaching staff,” Bishop Ahr head coach Scott Runkel said of Middlesex’s ability to maintain continuity despite the cyclical nature of scholastic sports.

“Mike O’Donnell does a heck of a job over there and I wouldn’t expect anything less than to have a representative team that’s going to contend every year.”

Aided by three infield double plays and a runner getting thrown out at the plate to end the game, winning pitcher Mike Phillips, who took a shutout into the seventh, scattered nine hits and forced the Trojans to strand five runners over the final three innings.

“When you’re up nine runs in the last inning, it definitely gives you a little bit of backup so you can allow a few hits,” said Phillips, who fanned three and issued just one walk.

“For me, I just try to go out there and throw strikes every game. I know I’ve got a great defense behind me. I mean, three double plays today. That’s fantastic. The rest of the staff, we are young but we throw strikes and get outs.”

Middlesex pitchers have allowed just three earned runs, a pleasant surprise for O’Donnell considering senior Anthony Keri, who has won more than 20 career starts, is the lone hurler with varsity mound experience.

Similarly, the Blue Jays returned just three varsity at-bats from a program that graduated six three-year starters and two two-year starters out of its position players.

“I can’t say I foresaw 5-0, but I thought we could function,” O’Donnell said. “I thought teams would be foolish to not pay attention to us. I know kind of the grit and determination that we do have. They truly want to do well.

“It’s cliché, but we try not to let anybody outwork us. We are going to continue to play our game. We know what we have. They know what they’ve got to do. We have hard-nosed kids and they want to win and they want to do well.”

Middlesex broke out the bats against Bishop Ahr (0-2), lacing a season-high 12 hits including four that went for extra bases.

Dom Lampasona (2-for-4) and Brandon Bollin each had RBI triples, while teammates Emilio Gonzalez-DeOlio (2-for-3) and Matt Carovillano (3-for-4) each smashed grounds-rule doubles that rolled more than 425 feet to the centerfield bleachers.

Eight different players – including two pinch hitters – had at least one hit and Middlesex scored five of its runs with two away. The Blue Jays broke the contest open with four consecutive two-out hits during a four-run rally in the top of the fifth for a 6-0 lead.

In the previous inning, Gonzalez aggressively went from first to third on a bunt-and-run before scoring on Joe DiNizio’s sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead. With a revamped offense, the Blue Jays have sacrificed, stolen bases and hit behind the runners more this spring than in years past.

“Since we don’t have as much power hitters as last year,” O’Connor said, “we just worked on small ball and getting those hitting situations down.”

Despite all the changes – from the new lineup’s different approach at the plate and use of throwback stirrups – the results at Middlesex remain the same.